Old Deseret – This is the Place Heritage Park

This Is The Place Heritage Park encompasses a historically significant site in Salt Lake City that preserves and interprets the settlement patterns and domestic life of early Latter-day Saint communities in nineteenth-century Utah. The park's centerpiece, Old Deseret, originated as a settlement established in 1844 as part of the territorial expansion undertaken under the leadership of Brigham Young, whose role in founding and developing Utah's communities fundamentally shaped the region's religious and political character. The heritage park encompasses multiple historic structures and grounds that recreate and interpret conditions of early settlement, allowing contemporary visitors to engage with material culture and daily life patterns of nineteenth-century pioneers. The site represents both a museum of domestic and agricultural history and a living interpretation center where costumed interpreters engage in period-appropriate activities that bring historical contexts to life.

Brigham Young, whose leadership presence dominates the spiritual atmosphere of the heritage park, shaped Utah's territorial development from the 1840s until his death in 1877. Young's tenure as religious leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as territorial governor of Utah made him one of the most influential figures in American western history, directing the settlement of Salt Lake Valley and expanding the religious community's territorial reach. His role in establishing principles of polygamous marriage, which he practiced extensively and justified through theological interpretation, created complex family dynamics and personal relationships that appear to have transcended his mortal existence. Young's attachments to places he occupied, particularly to domestic spaces where he spent time with his various families, appear to have impressed his presence in ways that contemporary witnesses have documented.

Ann Eliza Webb, who became Young's nineteenth wife through marriage, represents a particularly poignant spiritual presence within the heritage park's landscape. Webb's life trajectory reflects the complex emotional and social realities faced by women participating in polygamous religious communities. Historical records indicate that Webb explicitly rejected the practice of polygamy, advocating for monogamous marriage as the proper religious and social form. Her resistance to established practices of her religious community, combined with her apparent unhappiness with her situation within Young's large household, may have resulted in spiritual restlessness that persists within the physical spaces she inhabited. Her apparition, characteristically appearing as a petite figure dressed in black clothing, has been observed peering from the windows of the farmhouse dining room, her spectral form expressing displeasure and rejection directed toward the polygamous institutions that defined her earthly life.

Lucy Ann Decker, identified as Young's second wife, represents a contrasting spiritual presence within the heritage park's paranormal landscape. In contrast to Webb's restless and displeasured manifestation, Decker's apparition appears associated with contentment and domestic fulfillment, her spectral form frequently observed engaged in tending the stove within the farmhouse kitchen. Visitors to the heritage park have reported the unexpected and inexplicable occurrence of heavenly aromas associated with cooking food emanating from the kitchen area, suggesting Decker's phantom activities produce sensory impressions extending beyond mere visual phenomena. Her presence appears domesticated and comfortable within the space, suggesting her earthly existence may have provided sources of satisfaction and purpose that continue to define her spiritual manifestations. The heritage park, which annually transforms each October into a special event space called the Haunted Village, explicitly acknowledges and celebrates these paranormal presences through themed experiences including haunted houses and eerie reenactments.